JP2000152933A - Manual set value regulating method and device and ultrasonic imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a desired function to be selected from a plurality of functions allocated to a manual regulator by simple operation by displaying all the functions on a display. SOLUTION: A plurality of regulating value regulating functions A, B, C allocated, for instance, to a knob 162 are displayed by characters or suitable symbols on a display 168 representing respectively set current values a, b, c. When the knob 162 is rotated, the central frequency of a transmitted ultrasonic wave is regulated to change the set value a. When the low-cut frequency set value of an echo filter is to be regulated after the completion go setting the central frequency, the part displaying the function is touched by a finger. Each manual setting value is regulated in such a manner based on a plurality of functions allocated to the knobs 162-166. Since the functions allocated to the knobs are displayed on the display, the selection of a desired setting item can be carried out by own touch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for adjusting a manual set value and an ultrasonic imaging apparatus, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for adjusting a set value by assigning a plurality of kinds of set value adjusting functions. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic imaging apparatus provided with a simple manual controller.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In performing ultrasonic imaging, an operator is required to:
Various setting values for defining photographing conditions and the like are manually set.
The adjustment of the set value is performed by, for example, a knob (knob) of a manual controller.
It is performed by turning. In an operation panel (panel) having a limited area, a plurality of types of set value adjusting functions are assigned to one manual adjuster, and the set value is adjusted by switching one by one. A display is provided on the operation panel for each manual controller to display the currently effective functions. A push button for switching functions (butto) is located near the display.
n) and the like are provided, and the functions are switched by operating them. The display changes with the switching, and the currently active function is displayed.

[0003]

In the manual controller provided with the function switching means as described above, only the currently valid functions are displayed on the display. Therefore, when two or more functions are assigned, There has been a problem that the switching operation must be repeated several times until switching to the desired function is complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to manually set a desired function by a simple operation from a plurality of functions assigned to a manual controller. It is an object of the present invention to provide a value adjusting method and apparatus, and an ultrasonic imaging apparatus provided with such a manual adjusting apparatus.

[0005]

(1) According to a first aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems, when a plurality of types of set value adjusting functions are assigned, all of the plurality of types of functions are displayed on a display. A manual set value adjusting method, wherein one of a plurality of types of displayed functions is validated and a set value is adjusted by the manual adjuster.

(2) A second aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is that, when a plurality of types of set value adjusting functions are assigned, the function display means displays all of the plurality of types of functions for the manual adjuster; And a function activating means for activating one of a plurality of types of displayed functions.

(3) A third aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems comprises a manual setting value adjusting means, and an imaging means for performing ultrasonic imaging based on the setting value adjusted by the manual setting value adjusting means. An ultrasonic imaging apparatus having the manual setting value adjusting means, wherein when a plurality of types of setting value adjusting functions are allocated, the function displaying means for displaying all of the plurality of types of functions for the manual adjusting device; and And a function activating means for activating one of a plurality of types of functions described above.

In the second invention or the third invention, it is preferable that the function activating means is a touch panel provided on a display surface of the function display means, in that the function selection is performed by one touch.

(Operation) In the present invention, a plurality of functions assigned to the manual adjuster are all displayed on the display so that the function can be selected by a simple operation.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the ultrasonic imaging apparatus. This device is an example of an embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of the present apparatus shows an example of an embodiment relating to the apparatus of the present invention. An example of an embodiment of the method of the present invention is shown by the operation of the present apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present apparatus has an ultrasonic probe 2 (probe). The ultrasonic probe 2
A plurality of ultrasonic transducers (trans, not shown)
ducer). Individual ultrasonic transducers are, for example, PZT (titanium (T
i) Lead zirconate (Zr)) ceramics (cera)
mics). The ultrasonic probe 2 is used in contact with the subject 4 by an operator.

The ultrasonic probe 2 is connected to a transmitting / receiving unit 6. The transmission / reception unit 6 supplies a drive signal to the ultrasonic probe 2 to transmit ultrasonic waves. The transmission / reception unit 6 also receives an echo (echo) signal received by the ultrasonic probe 2. FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the transmission / reception unit 6. As shown in the figure, the transmission / reception unit 6 transmits the transmission timing (timin).
g) having a generating circuit 602; The transmission timing generation circuit 602 periodically generates a transmission timing signal and inputs it to a transmission beamformer (beamformer) 604.

The transmission beamformer 604 performs beamforming of transmission, and generates a beamforming signal for forming an ultrasonic beam in a predetermined direction based on a transmission timing signal. The beam forming signal is composed of a plurality of drive signals to which a time difference corresponding to the azimuth is given. The transmission beamformer 604 inputs the transmission beamforming signal to the transmission / reception switching circuit 606.

A transmission / reception switching circuit 606 inputs a beam forming signal to the ultrasonic transducer array. In the ultrasonic transducer array, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers constituting a transmission aperture each generate an ultrasonic wave having a phase difference corresponding to a time difference of a drive signal. By the wavefront synthesis of the ultrasonic waves, an ultrasonic beam is formed along a sound ray in a predetermined direction.

A transmission / reception switching circuit 606 is connected to a reception beam former 610. The transmission / reception switching circuit 606 inputs a plurality of echo signals received by the reception aperture in the ultrasonic transducer array to the reception beamformer 610. The reception beamformer 610 performs beamforming of a reception wave corresponding to the sound ray of the transmission wave, adjusts the phase by giving a time difference to a plurality of reception echoes, and then adds the echoes to adjust the phase. The received echo signal.

The transmission of the ultrasonic beam is repeatedly performed at predetermined time intervals by a transmission timing signal generated by a transmission timing generation circuit 602. Each time, the direction of the sound ray is changed by a predetermined amount by the transmission beam former 604 and the reception beam former 610. Thereby, the inside of the subject 4 is sequentially scanned by the sound ray.

The transmitting / receiving section 6 having such a configuration performs, for example, scanning as shown in FIG. That is, a fan-shaped two-dimensional area 206 is defined by a sound ray 202 extending from the radiation point 200 in the z direction.
In the θ direction, so-called sector scan (sect)
or scan).

When the transmitting and receiving apertures are formed by using a part of the ultrasonic transducer array, the apertures are sequentially moved along the array to perform scanning as shown in FIG. 4, for example. Can be.
That is, the sound ray 202 emitted from the radiation point 200 in the z direction
Is translated along the linear trajectory 204, so that the rectangular two-dimensional area 206 is scanned in the x direction, and a so-called linear scan is performed.

It should be noted that the ultrasonic transducer array is
A so-called convex array (convex array) formed along an arc extending in the ultrasonic wave transmission direction.
In the case of y), the radiation point 2 of the sound ray 202 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
It is needless to say that so-called convex scanning can be performed by moving 00 along the arc-shaped trajectory 204 and scanning the fan-shaped two-dimensional area 206 in the θ direction.

The transmitting / receiving unit 6 is connected to the echo processing unit 8. The transmission / reception unit 6 inputs an echo reception signal for each sound ray to the echo processing unit 8. The echo processor 8 forms image data (data) for each sound ray based on the echo reception signal. That is, by performing logarithmic amplification and envelope detection of the echo reception signal, a signal representing the intensity of the echo at each reflection point on the sound ray, that is, an A scope (scope)
A signal is obtained, and image data is formed using the instantaneous amplitude of the A scope signal as a luminance value. Alternatively, the Doppler shift of the echo reception signal (Doppler sh)
ift) is detected, and dynamic image data relating to, for example, a blood flow velocity is generated based on the detected ift).

The echo processor 8 is connected to the image processor 10. The image processing unit 10 generates an image based on the image data input from the echo processing unit 8. The display unit 12 is connected to the image processing unit 10. Display 12
Receives an image signal from the image processing unit 10 and displays an image based on the image signal. The display unit 12 is, for example, a graphic display.
Etc.

The above-described ultrasonic probe 2, transmitting / receiving unit 6,
A control unit 14 is connected to the echo processing unit 8, the image processing unit 10, and the display unit 12. The control unit 14 gives a control signal to each of these units to control the operation. Control unit 1
4 receives various notification signals from the respective controlled parts.
Ultrasonic imaging is performed under the control of the control unit 14.
The ultrasonic probe 2, the transmission / reception unit 6, the echo processing unit 8, the image processing unit 10, the display unit 12, and the control unit 14 are an example of an embodiment of an imaging unit according to the present invention.

An operation unit 16 is connected to the control unit 14. The operation unit 16 is, for example, a keyboard (keyboard).
d) and an operation panel equipped with other operation tools (pane
l). The operation unit 16 is used by an operator to input desired commands, information, and the like to the control unit 14. Operation unit 1
The operation panel 6 is provided with a manual adjustment unit described below. The manual adjustment unit is an example of an embodiment of the manual set value adjustment device of the present invention. Further, it is an example of an embodiment of a manual set value adjusting means in the present invention.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show a schematic configuration of the manual adjustment unit in the operation panel. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram shown in a plan view, and FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram shown in an AA cross-sectional view. As shown in both figures, the operation panel 160 has knobs 162, 164, 166 for manual setting value adjustment and a display 168.

Knobs 162, 164, and 166 are knob encoders (knob) provided on the back surface of the operation panel 160.
encoders 182, 184, and 186, respectively. Knob encoder 182,
The output signals of 184 and 186 are input to the control unit 14.
When the operator manually turns the knob 162, the amount of rotation is input to the control unit 14 through the knob encoder 182, and the set value is changed by an amount equivalent to the amount of rotation. The same applies to other knobs. The knobs 162, 164, 166 and the knob encoders 182, 184, 186 are examples of the embodiment of the manual adjuster according to the present invention.

The display 168 is provided near the knobs 162 to 166. The display 168 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD).
layer) 170 and the like. A touch panel 172 is provided on the surface of the LCD 170.
And the like. Touch panel 1
72 is transparent, through which the display surface of the LCD 170 can be seen.

The LCD 170 is an LCD driver (drive)
er) 190 to display a predetermined image.
The LCD driver 190 is controlled by the control unit 14 and changes the display state of an image. The LCD 170, the LCD driver 190, and the control unit 14 are an example of an embodiment of a function display unit according to the present invention. The detection signal of the touch panel 192 is encoded by the touch panel encoder 192 and input to the control unit 14. Touch panel 172,
The touch panel encoder 192 and the control unit 14 are an example of an embodiment of a function enabling unit according to the present invention.

The display 168 displays an image as shown in FIG. 6, for example. That is, a plurality of (for example, three) setting value adjustment functions A, B, and C assigned to the knob 162 are assigned characters or an appropriate symbol (symbo).
l) It is displayed as a figure or the like, and the current values a, b,
c. At that time, one set value adjusting function, for example, A and its set value a are set to have a contrast (cont)
Last) is displayed intensified to indicate that this function is currently active. Note that the active display is not limited to the method of giving a difference in contrast, but may use, for example, a blink display, a shaded display, or another known highlighting method. Hereinafter, an example in which the display is performed with a difference in the contrast will be described, but the same applies to the case where the highlight is displayed by another method.

The set value adjusting functions A, B and C are, for example, the center frequency of the transmitted ultrasonic wave, the low cutoff frequency and the high cutoff frequency of the echo filter of the receiving circuit, respectively. The set value adjustment function is hereinafter simply referred to as a function. For knob 164, indicator 168 shows functions D, E, F and set values d, e, f,
The currently active function, for example, E and its set value e are displayed in high contrast.
The functions D, E, and F include, for example, an imaging range in the z direction, an imaging range in the θ direction, and a frame rate (f
frame rate). As for the knob 166, the functions G, H, and I and the set values g, f, and i are indicated, and the currently active function, for example, I and its set value i are set to high contrast. Functions G, H, and I are, for example,
These are the power of the transmitted ultrasonic wave, the focal point of the transmitted ultrasonic wave, and the focal point of the received ultrasonic wave.

In the state shown in FIG.
By turning, the center frequency of the transmitted ultrasonic wave is adjusted and its set value a changes. When the center frequency has been set and the low cutoff frequency setting value of the echo filter is to be adjusted next, the operator touches the portion where the function B is displayed with a finger. Position information of the portion touched by the finger is input to the control unit 14 through the touch panel 172 and the touch panel encoder 192. The control unit 14 recognizes that the function B is selected based on the input signal, sets the function B and the set value b to high contrast instead of the function A and the set value a, and displays that the function B is active. .

By turning the knob 162 in this state,
The low cut-off frequency of the echo filter is adjusted. When setting the high cutoff frequency of the echo filter, the same operation is performed for the function C. Adjustment of the set values by the knobs 164 and 166 and switching of their functions are performed in the same manner.

As described above, the manual setting values are adjusted based on the plurality of functions assigned to the knobs 162 to 166, respectively. Since a plurality of functions assigned to the knobs 162 to 166 are all displayed on the display 168, selection of a desired setting item can be made by one touch (one touch).
h). That is, it is not necessary to perform the switching operation many times as in the related art, and a desired setting item can be selected very easily.

The manual adjuster is not limited to the one operated by turning a knob, and may be, for example, a seesaw key (seesa key).
An appropriate numerical operation tool that changes a value by operating a w key), a snap key, a joy stick, a push button, or the like may be used. The display is not limited to the LCD, and may be, for example, a CRT or a plasma display.
spray) or any other suitable image display device. Further, the function selection is not limited to the touch panel, but may be an appropriate selection device such as a push button or a switch arranged near the manual controller.
Further, it may be shared with a manual controller such as a joystick or a four-way seesaw key.

[0034]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a method and an apparatus for adjusting a manual set value for enabling a desired function by a simple operation among a plurality of functions assigned to a manual adjuster. , And an ultrasonic imaging apparatus including such a manual adjustment device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a device according to an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a transmission / reception unit of the device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of sound ray scanning by the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of sound ray scanning by the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of sound ray scanning by the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a part of an operation unit of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a part of an operation unit of the apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Ultrasonic probe 4 Subject 6 Transmission / reception unit 8 Echo processing unit 10 Image processing unit 12 Display unit 14 Control unit 16 Operation unit 162, 164, 166 Knob 168 Display 170 LCD 172 Touch panel

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2G047 AC13 BA03 BC05 BC13 DA02 DB04 DB05 EA12 GB02 GB16 GF11 GF17 GF22 GG17 GG34 GH00 GH01 GH17 GJ30 4C301 AA02 BB01 BB02 CC02 DD01 DD02 EE13 GB02 J06 HH04 HH38BJH29 KK31 KK40 LL20

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. When a plurality of types of set value adjustment functions are assigned, all of the plurality of types of functions are displayed on a display, and one of the displayed plurality of types of functions is activated to enable the manual adjustment. A manual setting value adjusting method, wherein the setting value is adjusted according to the following. 2. A function display means for displaying all of the plurality of types of functions for the manual adjuster when a plurality of types of set value adjustment functions are assigned, and one of the displayed plurality of types of functions is enabled. A manual setting value adjusting device, comprising: 3. An ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising: a manual setting value adjusting unit; and an imaging unit configured to perform ultrasonic imaging based on the setting value adjusted by the manual setting value adjusting unit. When a plurality of types of set value adjustment functions are allocated, the function display means displays all of the plurality of types of functions for the manual adjuster; and activates one of the displayed plurality of types of functions. An ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising: